Chops, grits, and 'maters

After all this Asian-y experimenting, it was time for some Southern yumminess. Last month's Real Simple had a recipe for pork chops, cheesy grits, and tomatoes so that's what I went for!
I used paprika, salt, and pepper to season up the 'chops and cooked them up in olive oil. Once the meat was out, I added a bunch of halved grape tomatoes, 1/4 c. cider vinegar and 3 T. of brown sugar to the skillet and cooked it until the tomatoes got a bit soft.

I used quick cook grits, added almost 2 cups of white cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper as the 1/2 c. of grits thickened up. I also boiled the first ear of corn of the summer! Here is the final product. Total Southern tastiness. (I will use white cheddar in my grits again, they were slammin')

Porky Potstickers

So the third and final recipe from the three meals one grocery list article is for potstickers. I think they should maybe be called rolls of some kind because potstickers seem to be pouches of sorts but anywho...

This recipe was actually much easier than I expected it to be. I am no longer afraid of wonton wrappers, it's official!
So pork went in first, then the bok choy and garlic. I didn't have crushed red pepper flakes, so I used cayenne and some slightly random seasoning mix I have. I also had no soy sauce so I used Worcestershire sauce instead...

 Mixed this in with the pork and I was ready to roll!

 I followed the directions and wet one edge of the wrapper, then filled it with the mixture and rolled towards the wet edge. (I used my fingers, dipped them in water and then ran them along the edge. Don't know if that's how it should be done, but it worked great!)

Look at them all! They actually held together and looked legit. I was pretty proud!

Into the skillet! The recipe basically said to fry them off in the skillet so I brushed them with oil and I added a little to the pan just in case. I put them seam side down and then flipped when golden.

Final product plus the radish salad. I will admit I was a little skeptical about this concoction but it turns out that cilantro, radish, and lemon juice is pretty tasty. I'm not sure I would make it again, but I am glad I tested it out.  I also need to remember to add salt if I skip the soy sauce again with the potstickers. Overall good meal though!

Taco Night!

Ash seems to be implying we are slackers at blogging.  Fine, I’ll do it.  It is a lazy Sunday meal though, one that I put very little planning in and looked up recipes while enjoying a beer.  It did turn out better than expected!

It all started with my desire for some grilled corn Tyler Florence style.  He calls it Mexican grilled corn, so it’s basically that recipe from Food Network but modified a bit. I was sketched out by this when I first tried it last year, but it is DELICIOUS. It’s grilled corn covered in a mayo based sauce and other delights.  I’m not a big mayo person but all the other flavors combined make it a delight.

 

 

I also wanted to grill some kind of limey chicken to make tacos with but was out-voted and we bought a steak to grill.  The recipe calls for flank or skirt steak but all I could find was flat iron.  It seems similar and worked well so, whatever. (You could probably use any meat.)

Taco night ended up being very tasty.  I stuffed the steak in a tortilla, topped with some homemade pico, queso fresco, and grilled onions.  YUM.

Grilled Corn

4 ears of corn in the husk
¼ cup light mayo
½ C low fat sour cream
Juice of a lime
handful of chopped up cilantro
Cotija or other Mexican cheese (I used Queso Fresco)
Chili powder

Mix the mayo, sour cream, lime and cilantro in a bowl.  Soak the corn for about 30 min and then grill until all sides are charred.  Shuck the corn.

While the corn is still warm, slather with the mayo mixture, sprinkle the cheese all over it and dust with chili powder to taste.

Cilantro lime marinade

Juice of 1 Lime
1 Garlic Clove, smashed
Cilantro
1/3 cup Olive Oil
2 teaspoons of Honey
1/2 teaspoon of Cumin
1/2 teaspoon of Ancho-Chili Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
Kosher Salt and Fresh Black Pepper, to taste

Chop up lime, cilantro, and garlic in a mini food processor.  Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until well combined. 

Pour marinade over the steak in a plastic bag.  I marinated 30 min at room temp.  I’m sure you could go longer for more flavor in the fridge, but it was plenty tasty.

Grill approx. 3 or 4 min a side.  Ours was done a little under medium. 

 

Asian "Lasagna"

Jo Anna was very uncomfortable with this concept, but I can't think of a more clever name, so, quotes it is.

So, Asian Lasagna from Rachael Ray. I started by prepping all the ingredients so I chop chopped bok choy, shredded cheese, warmed up some milk, and threw an onion in the food processor.

Now, I have never worked with bok choy, but it was essentially celery stalks with lettuce leaves on top, so that was easy enough.

 

Once everything was prepped, I started with the butter and flour in the pan, whisking til it was pretty thick. Then I added the milk. (I did actually use whole milk...a lot of times I'll just use my skim, but I thought for a cream sauce in a potentially sketchy dish I'd better buy a baby whole milk) Here I am whisking and whisking until it boiled and got thick. Then off the heat, in with the cheese, salt, and pepper.

New pan, in goes a smidge of butter and the ground pork. Browned that up and set it aside.

 After I pulled the meat out I added the onion and bok choy stems and cooked them until they were soft. Then in went the leaves, the pork, and some lemon zest. I cooked this down just a bit and then came the interesting part.

 Turns out wonton wrappers are super easy to work with. Naturally I do not have an 8x8 baking dish (thought a brownie pan would be weird...) so I went for the oval. Did not have a ton of trouble making the wrappers fit, as you can see. I layered in sauce, wrappers, meat, repeat. (The recipe says to dip them in warm water before you layer, and that made a lot of sense, giving them the texture you would assume these things should have)

 There she is before the oven...

 And after.
So this dish was really pretty yummy. The wonton wrappers are way less fatty than lasagna noodles, although I am sure we made up for that in the cream sauce...but still, that's always nice. The only thing I would change next round would be less bok choy leaves. I don't like greens and these were a little too healthy tasting for me :) The stems were delicious with the onions, though, and the cheese sauce was awesome.
Most excellent day two of summer blogging if I do say so myself!

BBQ Sammies (But not real BBQ, let's be honest)

This seemed easier than retyping. Thanks to Rachael Ray!

Well as I was prepping my ingredients I had a most wonderful Aha! moment. I am openly admitting this is a dumbass realization, BUT....I finally learned how to use the slicer disk of my food processor!! (Turns out you need to take the other blade out so your slices don't get minced...who knew?) But check out those thinly sliced radishes in that bowl!

 

 

 





Pork, BBQ sauce (I used Jack Daniels Original No. 7), salt, pepper mashed together and rolled into meatballs...

Then I brushed the tops with some BBQ sauce and popped them in the 450 degree oven for 10 minutes. Then I flipped them, brushed more sauce, and back in for another 12 minutes.

I got yummy Challah rolls toasted up and coated with some mayo, layered on the radishes, some jalapenos, meatballs, cilantro, and just a smidge more BBQ sauce.





And oh man was it DELICIOUS! This was a serious homerun for me with the fresh cilantro and the radishes. I can't wait to take deconstructed versions to school for lunch a couple days this week!

Summer tiiiime and the bloggin's easy!

After an incredibly stressful spring (not sure what Jo Anna's excuse is...) my classes are done for the summer and I am ready to blog!

I will also be moving to a slightly smaller kitchen in a few weeks so tales of the tiniest workspace ever shall be posted. (I think I am going to buy an island that can roll and serve as a sideboard/extra storage and counter space between my dining nook and kitchen...thoughts?)

This week I am taking on Rachael Ray's One Grocery List, 3 Meals menu plus an extra dish from Real Simple.

Here's the plan:

Sunday: Smokey Pork BBQ sandwiches (Hoping to take leftovers for lunches...)
Monday: Asian Lasagna
Wednesday: Potstickers with radish salad
Thursday: Pork chops with cheesy grits and jammy tomatoes and corn on the cob

Never worked with wonton wrappers or bok choy before so this shall be an adventure!!